Difference between revisions of "Patent"
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* Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant. | * Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant. | ||
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| + | == Patent Term == | ||
In the [[United States]], the term of a patent (filed after 1995) is 20 years from the earliest filing date. | In the [[United States]], the term of a patent (filed after 1995) is 20 years from the earliest filing date. | ||
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| + | For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. Note: Patents in force on June 8 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty year term discussed above or seventeen years from the patent grant. | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 15:47, June 18, 2007
A patent grants certain rights to an invention to a inventor. Among the rights conveyed is the exclusive right to utilize the invention named in the patent. This gives an incentive for inventing useful things, as the inventor can earn fees, also known as royalties, by obtaining a patent and then licensing it to others. There are several types of patents.
The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the American patent statute and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the U.S. Paten and Trademark Office.[1]
There are three types of patents:
- Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof;
- Design patents may be granted to anyone who invents a new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture; and
- Plant patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers and asexually reproduces any distinct and new variety of plant.
Patent Term
In the United States, the term of a patent (filed after 1995) is 20 years from the earliest filing date.
For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. Note: Patents in force on June 8 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty year term discussed above or seventeen years from the patent grant.